Paula Kelly Harline

Paula Kelly Harline, the great great grand-daughter of Utah polygamous couples, presents a rather fair history of 1840 to 1890 - the 50 year stretch when the Mormon Church supported plural marriages. Kelly Harline summarizes the diaries/autobiographies of 29 women in polygamous marriages alongside church and American history. The author doesn't conclude whether plural marriage was a good idea or harmed women as a whole since the chosen diaries are from women who were troubled by their husband having other families, ignored their "sister wives", lived in poverty or abuse, married out of convenience, or truly found happiness in their marriages.

While only a minority of Mormons during this time period were polygamous, Kelly Harline humanizes the women by describing how many were ok with plural marriages on the surface but still experienced heart break and jealously. The book is in no way lurid and rather focuses on how these women managed their home life and their feelings with their belief in Mormonism.

"The Polygamous Wives Writing Club" is an interesting read for anyone interested in polygamy in American history. The downside of this book is that by including 29 separate stories, not much time is given to understanding the overall complexities affecting an individual family. The book would have been more of a page turner if it focused more in depth on a few families instead of glossing over 29 marriages in 200 pages.… (mer)